Brandles School Governors Area

Governor Pen Pictures

Brandles Governor Pen Pictures

Mr Alec Thomas

Date joined Brandles’ Governors: September 2017

Co-opted Governor.

I serve on the FGB and the Finance and Personnel committee.

I am a Masters Psychology graduate currently working as a Teaching Assistant in the Learning Development Department of a main stream secondary school. Before that I worked as an Inclusion Assistant in the Additional Learning Support Department at a College. In both my roles I have worked with SEN students which I have found enormously rewarding. These roles have given me a great appreciation for the challenges facing both SEN students and the staff who teach and support them. I hope to bring this experience into my role as Governor in order to help support the staff and students at Brandles.

John McConnell – Vice Chair

Date joined Brandles’ Governors: January 2018

Co-opted Governor

I joined the governing body of Brandles at the beginning of 2018 as a co-opted Governor. I’m recently retired having spent 35 years working in the Pharmaceuticals / Biotechnology industry for GlaxoSmithKline plc, Astellas Pharma Inc. and Gilead Sciences Inc. where I held senior Sales, Marketing and IT roles at operating company, regional and world-wide level. In addition to my core functional skills I also have extensive experience of program and project management, financial planning and management, performance measurement and management and have a BSc. (Hons) in Biochemistry. I was keen to join the governing body as I have been inspired by what Brandles seeks to achieve and believe I can bring valuable knowledge and experience.

Kim Shariff

Date joined Brandles’ Governors: November 2017

Parent Governor

I joined the governing body of Brandles in November 2017 as a parent governor and serve on the FGB and the Finance Personnel Committee. I am a teaching assistant at a local secondary school, working directly with children with SEN in the classroom and have also recently completed an MSc in Psychology. I began working in education relatively recently and joined the Brandles Governing board in order to gain a more holistic understanding of the education system. From my previous career, I have 15 years’ experience in marketing, communication and digital project management in the private sector. I am looking forward to bringing some of these wider skills, as well as my experience in SEN, to my role as governor. As a TA and as a parent myself, I have become very aware of the challenges of providing the best education for each individual child. Therefore, I am also greatly motivated by the opportunity to make my own contribution to the amazing work that Brandles does in this respect.

Dan Login

I joined the governing body of Brandles in February 2018. I have over five years’ experience working in roles across universities and students’ unions, and I believe this allows me to bring a unique insight into the role of governor. Currently I work as the Student Experience and Operations Manager in the careers service at the London School of Economics (LSE).

I am also a former trustee of a charity and governor of a HE provider. Personally, I believe in – and want to – help students influence and shape their own education. In my view, this is how we best guarantee the quality of the time they spend learning.

Helen Jones – Chair

I joined the Brandles governing body in March 2018. I have served as a governor in several other schools in the past.

I am a qualified teacher and I have a post-graduate qualification in educational leadership and management. I have been a headteacher and I have extensive experience as a senior leader within a Local Authority and, until recently, as a director of a school improvement company. I am currently an independent school improvement adviser and consultant, supporting and advising a diverse range of schools and academies. I am a lead Ofsted inspector.

I am the link governor for safeguarding, special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and for pupils looked after by the local authority.

I look forward to working in partnership with my colleague governors and senior staff in the school to continue the work on driving improvement for the benefit of the pupils.

Kathy Dunnett

Kathy Dunnett is a Senior Adviser for School Governance and works at Herts for Learning. She is the Chair of Governors for Longmeadow School and has been in post since 2015. She is also at trustee for the Generations Multi Academy Trust. She has been involved in governance for many years, in many roles, in schools and charities. Her role currently consists on advising and training governors across Hertfordshire and she currently leads on the Chairs Service. Prior to her role in school governance she has worked with schools, health and education for many years. She is a nurse by background and has worked as a health professional in Hertfordshire for around 20 years specialising with vulnerable children’s groups, especially looked after children. Kathy has been involved with many national organisations, such as the SAPHNA, CPHVA, Young Minds and the Professional Association of Teachers. She has worked with the Department of Health on developing the Children’s National Service Frameworks, and the DCSF in the early stages of Integrated Practice and Every Child Matters. She has authored and edited books/papers on children’s health, partnership working, and the common assessment framework. More recently she has begun a qualification in Coaching, offering support to leaders in a variety of organisations